Latest thinking

Pure, Impure and Competitive: Altruism

Blog

05 Sep 2011

Nathalie Spencer

On Tuesday Sept 6th the RSA is hosting the event: The Price of Altruism.  Oren Harman will speak about the polymath George Price, perhaps the leading contributor to the study of altruism.  In the run up to the event, I’ve been thinking more about altruism.  After some shallow digging, I uncovered three different categories of it: pure, impure and competitive. 

Redirect

Video

01 Sep 2011

Professor Timothy Wilson is a renowned social psychologist

In defence of brains

Blog

30 Aug 2011

Matthew Taylor

The backlash against what Ray Tallis calls ‘neuromania’ is in full swing. As well as Tallis (you can download my recent debate with him from the RSA website) there is, for example, a pretty damning critique of David Brooks' book, The Social Animal in a recent New York Review. Indeed on the same topic I recently endured what must be the worst argument I have ever had as an adult with my father. I am sure there were diners sitting on the other side of the restaurant who heard him slam the table and exclaim furiously ‘my appreciation of art has got sod all to do with bloody neural pathways!’.

When more really is more

Blog

23 Aug 2011

Nathalie Spencer

Why saving money is good for you

Can we teach moral reasoning?

Comment

18 Aug 2011

There is currently another curriculum review underway in the UK. Emma Worley asks whether lessons in morality be considered within the review and if schools should 'build character and virtue', how should this be done?

Pack Your Bags! Why the size of your suitcase matters more than you think.

Blog

28 Jul 2011

Nathalie Spencer

While preparing for your last holiday, how hard was it to pack your suitcase? Well, that probably depended on two things: the amount of stuff you wanted to bring, and the size of your suitcase. This is a wonderful analogy for many decision areas in life. For those of us trying to lose weight, the “stuff to pack” represents the amount and type of food we’d like to consume, and the suitcase represents the restricted calorie count of our diet plan. For those of us struggling with poverty, we must determine how to best cover our bills, grocery shopping, and other purchases, given our finite budget.

You Are What You Wear

Blog

27 Jul 2011

Benedict Dellot

There was an interesting story in the Guardian yesterday about a new uniform system being used at a school in Greenwich. According to the article, after re-opening in May this year the secondary school in south London has decided to divide it’s teaching into three “mini-schools” within the larger establishment, each containing 450 pupils. Upon entering the school at 11 years old the children are separated according to their ability and placed in the relevant sub-school.

The Mad Men We Love to Hate: Our changing relationship with advertising

Video

07 Jul 2011

With Nicola Mendelsohn, Lord Watson, Sam Delaney and Matthew Taylor

Neuromania? The possibilities and pitfalls of our fascination with brains

Video

05 Jul 2011

Professor Raymond Tallis, philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic